Before The Show Begins
by JudeDeluca
Summary: Dick invites Donna, Wally, Garth, Roy and Lian to the circus's opening day in Metropolis.


Disclaimer: Characters owned by DC Comics.

Someone sent me a prompt on tumblr for a story about Lian and the Fab Five at the circus. Hope you like.

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"Daddy come oooooon. You're taking foreeeeeeever."

"Now now little one, there's no need to rush an old man while he's having fun."

"You're not old, Daddy."

"Thank you, Lian."

"Just annoying."

"And that's how you don't get funnel cake."

"Sorry!"

"It was nice of you to invite us to Haley's opening night in Metropolis, Dick."

"Well Lian was driving me nuts wondering when the next show was going to be and I had a few extra tickets so I figured I'd subject myself to some public humiliation and invite you guys along."

"Really know how to make a girl feel special, don't you Grayson?"

Dick had invited his four childhood friends, Donna, Wally, Garth, and Roy, alongside Roy's daughter Lian, to Haley Circus' first night in Metropolis. The main show hadn't begun yet, so the Titans were spending the evening exploring the games, rides, and food stands.

"That and I know how to get out of a straight jacket in less than 20 seconds." Dick gushed to Donna.

"I heard Batman does it in 10." Donna politely snarked to Dick.

"He likes to exaggerate." Dick took the snark with grace, as he tended to do with Donna. "Where'd everybody go?"

"Roy took Lian to the games booth and I think Wally and Garth went to get-"

"Okay I've got hot dogs, corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, candy apples, snow cones, and a diet soda." Wally had finished listing off the gross assortment of junk food in his arms. "And, uh, what did you guys want again?"

Donna rolled her eyes when they suddenly heard Garth approaching them, and he seemed to be arguing with someone.

"Listen Eddie I know this isn't an ideal situation for you but you should've thought of that before you got caught in that net."

"Um, Garth?"

The three adults were watching Garth arguing with a goldfish in a plastic bag.

"Well Arthur isn't here right now, is he?" Garth finished towards the little fish.

"Oh you got a goldfish?" Donna observed while Wally polished off a candy apple.

"I thought it'd be a nice pet for Cerdian when I get back home." Garth told them.

"And his name is Eddie?" Dick asked.

"He prefers just Ed but no one's called him that in years. We went to school together." Garth mentioned in an offhand fashion.

"..." Dick, Wally, and Donna just stared at Garth for a moment. The moment was punctuated by Wally finishing off his first soda.

"I was joking." Garth clarified.

"Oh!" Donna gasped. "Oh of course you were. Ahaha."

"Fishface you just concentrate on staying pretty. When this groups needs a good laugh, that's what I'm here for."

The four adults turned to see what looked like Roy Harper's lower half and his daughter Lian walking up to him. The rest of Roy had been obscured by a dozen or so stuffed toys he'd won at the darts booth.

"I thought I was the pretty one." Donna fake pouted.

"You're the pretty AND the smart one." Roy explained.

"Wait I thought that was me." Dick piped in.

"Then who the hell am I?" Wally asked while munching on a corn dog.

"Uncle Wally did you get the funnel cake?" Lian tugged at her uncle's leg.

"Oh! I knew I forgot something." Wally finished off the second diet soda. "By right ba-there you go."

"Oh my God Roy how many stuffed animals do you think Lian needs?" Donna couldn't believe how many stuffed toys Roy had in his arms.

"Now now, I made sure to bring plenty for everyone in the class. Lian gets the penguin because they're her favorite," Roy handed Lian a stuffed penguin doll which she took in the hand not covered in powdered sugar, "I keep the little winged devil doll because we're both too hot to handle-"

"Boooo!" Everyone heckled Roy's bad joke.

"And for the rest of you..."

Roy began handing out stuffed animals to his friends.

"Let's see. For Wingster we have the giant chicken doll. For Hotfoot over here we have a grumpy cat. Wonder Babe gets the knock-off Princess Peach. And for my main man Gillhead..."

"Just get it over with Roy." Garth sighed, held out his hands, and closed his eyes. "What is it, a-?"

"You get the oversized green giraffe." Roy shoved a giant, green abomination of a giraffe in Garth's arms. Roy took a step back.

"Kind of reminds me of Saladhead, now that I think about it. What do you say, Lian?"

"Ooh yeah! It looks just like him." Lian said through a mouthful of funnel cake.

"He's gonna get a kick out of that I'm sure." Donna laughed.

"Ahem." Roy huffed. The others turned to him. "What do we say, boys and girls?"

Without missing a beat, the four other adults (and Lian) said in unison:

"THANK YOU, BOWHEAD."

"A ha. A haha." Roy deadpanned.

"So Dick, did you invite Tim by any chance?" Donna asked.

"No, Bruce grounded Tim after he found about the unspeakable atrocity Young Justice committed last week."

Donna and Wally shuttered.

"Max hasn't let Bart out of his room after he found out." Wally mentioned.

"I don't think I've ever seen Diana get as mad as she did when she heard. Poor Cassandra." Donna tsk-tsked.

"Where they able to replace them all?" Garth asked.

"Everything but the blue one." Roy heard.

"At least the poor penguins weren't hurt." Lian sighed.

"ATTENTION, EVERYONE. HALEY'S CIRCUS IS ABOUT TO BEGIN ITS MAIN PERFORMANCE."

"Hurry up guys," Dick announced, "the show's about to begin."


End file.
